Welcome Steve Haner to Bacon’s Rebellion

I’m pleased to announce that Stephen D. Haner is joining the ranks of Bacon’s Rebellion contributors. An occasional guest columnist in the past, he will become a more regular presence on the blog.

Steve brings a unique perspective to public policy in Virginia. He started his career as a journalist. When I first met him at the Roanoke Times in the early ’80s, he was a dogged reporter covering the Roanoke County board of supervisors in. He moved on to partisan politics as a Republican Party operative, worked in the Attorney General’s Office, and rounded out his career as a lobbyist, most notably for Huntington Ingalls (owner of Newport News Shipbuilding). In other words, he has observed Virginia sausage making from both the inside and the outside and has few illusions about the process.

Winding down his lobbying practice, Steve has the freedom now to proffer opinions that he once considered prudent to keep to himself. I, for one, look forward to reading what he has to say now that the manacles are off.

Regarding Acbar’s comment below, the internet has not only ruined the major newspaper business, it has ruined the civility, manners, competence, and morality not only of the reporters, but also of the operating staff, and publisher.

Reed hits the very same point I’d like to make. Let me rephrase his compliment to you as a challenge: With your perspective on the newspaper business, the decline of funding and staffing for good journalism and coverage at the local and State level, rising attacks on journalistic standards for accuracy and for the separation of facts and opinions, and the echo chamber effect of social media, I’m hoping to hear your thoughts someday about where you think the informing of the electorate is headed in this country.

I have been a professional journalist for 44 years and take offense at the suggestions that most reporters at dishonest, sloppy and unethical. Against a backdrop of business turmoil that is not their fault, journalists are under attack by many means — murder, jail, lawsuits, character assassination, etc. This has just increased under Trump and various dictators around the world
In fact, journalists struggle to do their jobs under harsh conditions for which they get little respect and not a lot of pay. Many literally risk their lives to serve the public. On Oct. 3 and 4, 1993 in Moscow, seven journalists were killed during a violent uprising and coup d’etat attempt. I was there. That’s seven journalists in 48 hours.
It likely has become worse. This is from this mornings opinion’s section of the Post:

“As U.S. officials have stopped protesting the abuse of journalists abroad, strongmen around the world have accelerated a crackdown on journalists as “terrorists.” Last year, six countries imprisoned journalists for promulgating “fake news,” compared with only two countries in 2016, the CPJ reports. Trump has had friendly words for the leaders of Turkey, China and Egypt — the world’s top three jailers of journalists.

“A report last week by Reporters Without Borders outlines the “growing animosity towards journalists” worldwide: the president of the Philippines saying journalists “are not exempted from assassination,” the president of the Czech Republic attending a news conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed “for journalists,” Slovakia’s prime minister calling journalists “filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes.” As murders of journalists predictably swell, the killers go free in nine out of 10 cases.”

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We welcome a broad spectrum of views. If you would like to submit an op-ed for publication in Bacon’s Rebellion, contact editor/publisher Jim Bacon at jabacon[at]baconsrebellion.com (substituting “@” for “at”).